This is a list of terrorist incidents in 2021, including attacks by violent non-state actors for political motives. Note that terrorism related to drug wars and cartel violence is not included. Ongoing military conflicts are listed separately.
Total incidents: 25
| Date | Type | Dead | Injured | Location | Article | Details | Perpetrator | Part of |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 January | Stabbing | 11 | 0 | Machh, Pakistan | Machh attack | 11 miners in Balochistan belonging to the Shi'ite Hazara sect were blindfolded and tied up before having their throats slit. [1] | Islamic State – Khorasan Province | Insurgency in Balochistan |
| 6 January | Semi-coordinated rioting, assault, attempted coup d'état, attempted bombing | 1-5 (+4) | 174 (+???) | Washington, D.C., United States | January 6 United States Capitol attack | Following the 2020 United States presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated incumbent Donald Trump, conspiracy theories spread by Trump and his supporters accused Biden of voter-fraud and had launched various campaigns to overturn the election. On 6 January, the day the electoral votes were to be certified, Donald Trump held a rally calling on his supporters to fight. Soon afterwards, thousands of rioters, as well as organized far-right/neo-fascist militias, stormed the United States Capitol building in an attempt to overturn the election in a self-coup. The rioters/militiamen damaged the interior (including both chambers and several offices like the one belonging to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi), looted, clashed with police officers/security, and raised various far-right flags and messages, including the Confederate flag and the Nazi flag. A planner of the attack had also placed bombs outside the building the night prior, however they never detonated. One rioter was shot to death by police, one died of a drug overdose, and two more died from natural causes. Police officer Brian Sicknick was sprayed with pepper-spray during the attack, which triggered a stroke the following day, killing him. Four more police officers would commit suicide due to the trauma of the event. Overall, 174 officers were injured (including 15 requiring hospitalizations), as well as an unknown amount of attackers. 1,500+ rioters were charged, and Trump was both impeached and indicted, although he wasn't removed from office and faced no long-term punishment. Four years later, after Trump had been re-elected president, he pardoned most of the rioters. [2] [3] [4] | Various far-right/neo-fascist groups (most notably Proud Boys and Oath Keepers) and election denying rioters led by then outgoing president Donald Trump. | Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election Domestic terrorism in the United States |
| 21 January | Suicide bombing | 32 (+2) | 110 | Baghdad, Iraq | January 2021 Baghdad bombings | Two suicide bombers attacked an open-air market. [5] | Islamic State | Islamic State insurgency in Iraq |
| 21 March | Mass shooting | 137 | Unknown | Tahoua Region, Niger | 2021 Tahoua attacks | Armed jihadists indiscriminately shot at people in the villages of Intazayane, Bakorat, and Wirsnat, as well as several other hamlets and camps throughout the Tahoua region. [6] | Islamic State in the Greater Sahara | Jihadist insurgency in Niger |
| 24 March – 5 April | Arson, beheadings, looting, mass shooting | 1190+ (+41) [7] [8] | Unknown | Palma, Mozambique | Battle of Palma | Islamists invaded the city in Cabo Delgado Province, killing dozens of people before government forces regained control days later. Palma was left destroyed, and a major oil and gas company decided to suspend all operations in the area. [9] | Ansar al-Sunna Islamic State – Central Africa Province | Insurgency in Cabo Delgado |
| 28 March | Suicide bombing | 0 (+2) | 20 | Makassar, Indonesia | 2021 Makassar cathedral bombing | Two suspected suicide bombers attacked the Sacred Heart Cathedral during Palm Sunday service. The attack was allegedly carried out by the Islamic terrorist group Jamaah Ansharut Daulah. [10] [11] | Terrorism in Indonesia | |
| 5 April | Prison escape | 0 | 0 | Owerri, Nigeria | Owerri prison break | A large group of armed men used explosives to break into a prison in Imo State, freeing 1,844 inmates. [12] | Insurgency in Southeastern Nigeria | |
| 21 April | Car bombing | 5 | 11 | Quetta, Pakistan | Quetta Serena Hotel bombing | A car bomb exploded in the car park of the luxury Serena Hotel in Balochistan's capital. [13] | Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan | Terrorism in Pakistan |
| 23 April | Stabbing | 1 (+1) | 0 | Rambouillet, France | Rambouillet knife attack | A man stabbed an admin worker to death at the police station in which she worked in Yvelines, Île-de-France. Police shot him dead at the scene. Europol classified the attack as jihadist terrorism. [14] [15] | Lone wolf | Islamic terrorism in Europe |
| 25 April | RPG attack | 31 | Unknown | Mainok, Nigeria | Mainok attack | A group of jihadists arrived in trucks and used rocket-propelled grenades to attack an army convoy and base in Borno State. [16] | ISWAP | Boko Haram insurgency |
| 3 May | Arson, mass shooting | 30 | 20 | Kodyel, Burkina Faso | Kodyel attack | About 100 insurgents burnt homes and shot residents in a village in Foutouri, Komondjari Province, Est Region [17] | ||
| 6 May | Arson, bombing | 0 | 6 | Malé, Maldives | Attempted assassination of Mohamed Nasheed | An assassination attempt was made against Mohamed Nasheed near his home in Malé. A homemade explosive device planted on a parked motorcycle exploded, injuring Nasheed and four others. [18] The arrested suspects denied being involved; [19] all three of them had prior criminal records. [20] | Al-Qaeda | |
| 8 May | Car bombing | 90 | 240 | Kabul, Afghanistan | 2021 Kabul school bombing | Bombing of a school in a neighborhood frequently attacked by militants belonging to the regional Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – Khorasan Province. [21] [22] | Islamic State-Khorasan Province | War in Afghanistan |
| 23 May | Mass shooting | 18 | 0 | San Miguel del Ene, Peru | San Miguel del Ene attack | Shooting in a red-light zone bar of Vizcatán del Ene District, Satipo Province. Along with the corpses, some of which were burned, leaflets described the attack as a social cleansing operation. [18] [23] | Shining Path | Internal conflict in Peru |
| 4–5 June | Mass shooting | 174 | Unknown | Solhan and Tadaryat, Burkina Faso | Solhan and Tadaryat massacres | In the evening of 4 June, 13 civilians and a soldier were killed in an attack at the village of Tadaryat in Yagha Province, Sahel Region. The attackers also raided the communities motorbikes and cattle. Hours later in the early morning of 5 June, insurgents attacked Solhan village in Yagha, killing around 138 civilians. [24] [25] [26] [27] | Jihadist insurgency in Burkina Faso | |
| 19 July | Suicide bombing | 35 (+1) | 60 | Baghdad, Iraq | July 2021 Baghdad bombing | A suicide bomber attacked Shias at a market in Sadr city. [28] | Islamic State | Islamic State insurgency in Iraq|- |
| 26 August | Suicide bombing | 183 | 200+ | Kabul, Afghanistan | 2021 Kabul airport attack | A suicide bombing occurred near Abbey Gate at Hamid Karzai International Airport. [29] [30] [31] Among the dead were 13 US service members, two British nationals and a child of a British national. [32] [33] | Islamic State - Khorasan Province | War in Afghanistan |
| 3 September | Stabbing | 0 (+1) | 7 | Auckland, New Zealand | 2021 Auckland Countdown stabbing | Stabbing at the LynnMall Countdown supermarket in New Lynn. The attacker was being followed by police who shot and killed him. [34] | Islamist (suspected) | Terrorism in New Zealand |
| 15 October | Stabbing | 1 | 0 | Leigh-on-Sea, England | Murder of David Amess | MP David Amess was stabbed multiple times outside a constituency surgery meeting in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. [35] [36] The attacker was found guilty of murder and preparing acts of terrorism. [37] | Ali Harbi Ali | Terrorism in the United Kingdom |
| 7 November | Drone strike | 0 | 6 | Baghdad, Iraq | Attempted assassination of Mustafa Al-Kadhimi | Attempt to assassinate Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi. [38] | Kata'ib Hezbollah (suspected) | Iraqi conflict |
| 14 November | Bombing | 0 (+1) | 1 | Liverpool, England | Liverpool Women’s Hospital bombing | An explosion occurred inside a taxi outside the main entrance of the Liverpool Women’s Hospital which was detonated by the passenger, who was killed. [39] The taxi driver was injured in the explosion. [40] | Lone-wolf | Terrorism in the United Kingdom |
| 21 November | Shooting | 1 (+1) | 4 | Jerusalem, Israel | 2021 Jerusalem shooting | A gunman opened fire on civilians before he was shot dead by the police. [41] [42] | Hamas | Israeli–Palestinian conflict |
| 25 November | Suicide car bombing | 8 | 17 | Mogadishu, Somalia | November 2021 Mogadishu bombing | A suicide car bomb exploded outside a school as an African Union Mission to Somalia convoy drove through. [43] | Al-Shabaab | Somali Civil War |
| 30 November | mass shooting, school shooting | 4 | 7 | Oxford, United States | 2021 Oxford High School shooting | A teenager opened fire on the students of the high school. | Ethan Crumbley [44] [45] | |
| 3 December | Mass shooting, arson | 31 | 18 | Mopti Region, Mali | Mopti bus massacre | A bus carrying civilians was attacked by unknown militants. [46] | Islamists (suspected) | Mali War |
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